Blue Jean Shoes

Thanks to everyone who's been reading along and leaving comments! It's great hearing that so many people are interested in what I'm up to, and it always brightens my day to read the comments you leave.
Tiana and I spent today at the hospital. We got tours of the pediatric ward, women's ward, men's ward, operating room, and the outpatient clinic. All the windows are open in the hospital, perhaps to reduce the spread of airborne diseases, but as a result is it terribly cold. Good thing everyone has their besotho blankets with them! We were present for rounds this morning, which is where the doctor sees all the patients and establishes a plan of care. Rounds in Lesotho are much different than in the US. First of all, the attending was wearing a leather jacket and BLUE JEAN SHOES! I seriously want to bring these things into fashion in the US. I had to be very sneaky to get a picture of these, posted below.
Rounds on 5 patients lasted approximately 10 minutes. We did not actually examine any of the patients, we just talked to them from the foot of their beds. In the US, rounds last hours, and it is expected that you will always examine patients. However, at least these patients are spared the annoyance of being woken up by a medical student while it's still dark.
After rounds, we spent the day in the outpatient clinic. These visits were similarly short, with minimal physical examination. We mustve seen 20 patients in the morning and afternoon. Basically the patient comes in to see the doctor, hands over their Bukana which is essentially their medical record, and the doctor asks a few questions and writes down an order for medications or lab tests or X-rays. Visits lasted approximately 3 minutes each. I saw many things I've never seen in the US, including Typhoid, a bone tumor in a child, and PCP pneumonia (only occurs in severely immunocompromised individuals). I'm glad I got all my immunizations before coming here! The doctor also got a call about an emergent surgery for an ectopic pregnancy (pregnancy in the tube instead of the uterus, which can rupture and be life threatening), which we are going to operate on tomorrow morning. We also diagnosed a breast mass that I will help biopsy next week. I posted some pics that I took of the hospital below.
After we finished at the hospital we went into town to "fruit and veg." this is really just a roadside stand where they get fresh-ish fruits and vegetables every Wednesday, so we go get what we'll need for the next week. I also bought myself a souvenir besotho blanket in town today, it is so nice and warm! I will need it, considering how cold it's getting here. One of the nurses told me its supposed to snow soon!
I'll be back at the hospital tomorrow, and hopefully will have positive results to report after the surgeries.
-MayHannah (that's what they've started calling me around here. You say May before any woman's name.)